No implosion for Bradley Center as demolition plan takes shape

The BMO Harris Bradley Center has been a hub for downtown entertainment.
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Fans gather for a pep rally before game three of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs between the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors at BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee Wisconsin on April 20.(Photo11: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo

Demolition of the BMO Harris Bradley Center will be a yearlong process that will not include a controlled implosion, the Milwaukee Bucks announced Monday.

The Bucks said they have hired Veit & Co. Inc., a Minneapolis firm with a New Berlin office, to dismantle the 30-year-old facility, said Marc Farha, executive vice president of Icon Venue Group, the company working with the Bucks on their new basketball arena and related projects.

Demolition will begin next summer, following the last scheduled event at the Bradley Center: the annual Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. convention.

Farha said it was important to get the demolition contractor named now so that the complicated project can be properly planned. The work will be underway as the Bucks' new $524 million area celebrates its grand opening in the fall of 2018.

"They won't be able to implode the building" because it stands so close to the new arena, historic Turner Hall and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Farha said.

"That's an all-concrete building with steel on top," he said of the Bradley Center.

The Bucks and Hunzinger Construction Co. are looking into ways to preserve for resale some of the Bradley Center material, such as the granite cladding, Farha said.

"We're evaluating what will be the best use for it," he said.

Hunzinger is a Brookfield-based company that's managing construction of the entertainment plaza and other related development.

Work will begin on the south side of the Bradley Center and over time move north toward the new arena.

The new Bucks arena is being built with $250 million in taxpayer support. The Bucks' development arm is paying for the entertainment complex that will surround the facility, including a beer garden linking the arena plaza with Old World 3rd St.

Veit will work as a subcontractor to Hunzinger.

Veit is the same company that handled demolition of the large city-owned parking ramp along N. 4th St. between W. Highland and W. Juneau avenues. The entertainment complex and beer garden are being built on the site of that ramp.

The Bucks have not announced redevelopment plans for the Bradley Center parcel. At seven acres, it's the largest piece of land that the Bucks control in the arena development area, Farha said.